Monrovia has settled with the Department of Justice following a federal review that found the city’s GoMonrovia transportation program did not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The program offered reduced-fare Lyft rides to residents 24 hours a day and seven days a week, but because Lyft did not offer wheelchair-accessible vehicles, the city limited individuals with disabilities to a separate dial-a-ride service, which did not operate after 10 p.m. or on certain holidays, according to a release by the DOJ. The review found Empire Transportation’s accessible vehicles could not be reserved through a website or by telephone, and required passengers to fill out a paper application.
GoMonrovia launched in 2018 and made Lyft the “primary public transit provider for all non-ADA-related services,” according to a press release by the city. The program quickly reached about 30,000 rides per month, roughly what its traditional dial-a-ride service covered in a whole year for the same price, a case study published by the American Public Transportation Association found. The city’s website lists fares as low as $3.
GoMonrovia was generally considered a success. It won two government excellence awards from the International City’/County Management Association in 2020, according to the city. Caltrans even studied it as a possible solution for getting riders easily to other public transportation options, such as the Metro lines.
But, at least according to the DOJ, the city’s effort to be innovative backfired by creating an unequal system.
Now, the settlement agreement between Monrovia and the DOJ requires the city to update the GoMonrovia program to provide equivalent access for individuals with disabilities, including the same hours of operation. In a statement, the DOJ indicated Monrovia did not admit to denying benefits or excluding anyone on the basis of a disability.
In an email, City Manager Dylan Feik said the city will implement further changes to the GoMonrovia program.
“The City has been working to make improvements to the GoMonrovia experience for individuals with disabilities since the program started,” he stated. “We believe the service has always provided necessary services to those individuals, but we have recently obtained grant funding to improve the vehicles available to individuals with disabilities and also the application process.”
During a presentation earlier this summer, city staff told the City Council that residents “in the near future” would be able to request a dial-a-ride, ADA-accessible vehicle directly through Lyft.